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List Price: $26.00
Our Price: $17.16
Your Save: $ 8.84 ( 34% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Houghton Mifflin
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Average Customer Rating: 
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Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 796.3520922
EAN: 9780618754465
ISBN: 0618754466
Label: Houghton Mifflin
Manufacturer: Houghton Mifflin
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 368
Publication Date: 2008-04-11
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Studio: Houghton Mifflin
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Editorial Reviews:
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Surprisingly, one of sport's most contentious, complex, and defining clashes played out not in the boxing ring or at the line of scrimmage but on the genteel green fairways of the world's finest golf courses. Arnie and Jack. Palmer and Nicklaus. Their fifty-year duel, in both the clubhouse and the boardroom, propelled each to the status of American icon and pushed modern golf to the heights and popularity it enjoys today.
Yet for all the ink that has been spilled on these two essential golf figures individually, no one has ever examined their relationship in this way. Arnie was the cowboy, with rugged good looks, Popeye-like forearms, a flailing swing, and charm enough to win fans worldwide. Jack was scientific, precise, conservative, aloof, even fat and awkward. Ultimately, Nicklaus got the better of Palmer on the course, beating him in major victories, 18-7. But Palmer bested Nicklaus almost everywhere else, especially in the hearts of the public and in endorsement dollars -- Palmer was the top-grossing athlete for thirty years, until Michael Jordan surpassed him.
With dogged reporting and crisp, colorful storytelling, the award-winning sports columnist Ian O'Connor explores this heated professional and personal battle in fascinating, intimate, and revelatory detail. Drawing on unique and exclusive access to Palmer and Nicklaus, and informed by some two hundred new interviews, O'Connor illuminates the two men's extreme differences and sprawling influence through mini-dramas, such as their little-known first meeting on the course at the topsy-turvy U.S. Open in 1962, their early involvement with marketing and a small agency called IMG, and their intense competition for golf-course designs in their later years.
By the end of this page-turning narrative, which spans five remarkable decades, we see that each man wanted what the other had: Arnold had the adoring fans but wanted the trophies. Jack had the trophies but wanted the love.
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: The King, The Golden Bear, And A Rivalry For The Ages
Comment: I grew up a member of Jack's Pack, having been born a little too late to be a soldier in Arnie's Army. It's funny how sports moments can stay with you. As I watched the Masters this year, in my mind's eye, I could see the Golden Bear prowling those greens. Ghosts of Augusta.
This book tells the tale of two of Golf's titans, both their individual stories, and the story of their complicated relationship, from the first time they met, to the present day. Arnold Palmer, muscular arms bulging out of his short-sleeved shirts, cigarette hanging from his lips, going for every pin, with that wild looking swing of his. Jack Nicklaus: once Fat Jack, before he transformed himself. Picture perfect on the course, but not with the galleries, never getting the love that they showered on Palmer, the King. To say it was love/hate would be an understatement. They competed to the death in everything, but cared about each other much more than they would let on. Ironically, each wanted to be the other. Arnie wanted all those Majors, and the title of Greatest Golfer ever. Jack wanted the popularity and love that Arnie always had. But as Arnie said, "You can only be so many things in life."
The book is wonderfully written. You almost feel like you were there, as the author describes so many memorable Arnie/Jack duels. There is also a fascinating look at their wives. Winnie Palmer & Barbara Nicklaus were fast friends from the moment they met, even as their husbands were trying to beat each other's brains out. When I finished this book, I remember thinking, "I really enjoyed that." I think you will,too.
Customer Rating:
Summary: must read
Comment: Always an Arnie fan, reluctantly a Jack fan, Ian O'Connor has allowed me to go back to a wonderful time in my life. I cut school to watch these two men duel at Baltusrol. I remember seven kids jumping into the pond of the fourth green to recover a misplayed Palmer shot during the 67 US Open. Palmer's charisma has never been replicated, while Jack eventually earned the respect he deserved. Arnie and Jack reveals captivating insights into these two golfing warriors' lives and accomplishments. I had to send copies to my all my golfing buddies, even before Christmas
Customer Rating:
Summary: Superior book about two all time greats.
Comment: Mr. O'Connor has done a fine job with his work on the Palmer-Nicklaus rivalry. No matter which side of the fence you may be on (Arnie's Army or Jack's Pack), there are enduring lessons to be learned here as well as a lot of inside information about two of the all time greats of the game so many of us love. If you have any memories of either of these guys in, or even close to, their primes, you can purchase this book with confidence knowing you have a wonderful read ahead of you.
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Summary: The Competition Continues
Comment: Fifty years ago, the greatest rivalry in golf began. By forty years ago, it was all over, with the domination of Jack Nicklaus over Arnold Palmer. So for those who didn't live through it (and for those who did), Mr. O'Connor chronicles the the rise of Big Golf with these two men. Mr. Palmer with his come from behind wins and self-taught style came of age with the TV set and was golf's first superstar. Mr. Nicklaus was not the risk-taker on the golf course that Mr. Palmer was --which is why Arnie had his "Army" and Jack had all the major championships. Their rivalry continued in the business arena after their golfing days. Mr. O'Connor interviewed everyone who knew them and used every cliche to describe them. Other than that, the book is fun to read and a joy to every golfer.
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